Chapter 11.2 War

War
War opens PVP property and settlement capturing, and permadeath execution options if the losing settlement failed to set up nearby resurrection points at the point of defeat. Any public resurrection point used by members of a settlement or property can be claimed to be used by the opponent, or destroyed by them. More complex resurrection points take longer to claim than cheaply made ones, with war culture skills extending, or lessening the time needed if activated by either parties.

Fleeing
Players can optionally flee a war, or can self leave a claim/outpost membership at any time as usual. However, this will remove their ownership of buildings they had control over. (Will turn into fire wisps and eject out of buildings if done in an area where only specific members have access.)

Declaring War
Players can send a war torch handler as a messenger, and light a fire source at a gate, public resurrection point, or the settlement or property hub itself. These torches have a blood red flame, clearly noticeable from a distance. War torch carriers are attackable by the declared to avoid war declarations. The torch itself is destructible by any player on on any property, to keep a war from going out if placed in the world. Faith based players/NPC may get quest info from an applicable shrine to notify players to snuff out the war light.

Claim Outpost/Public Outpost War Declaration
Only players with the appropriate war role from a claim can carry an active torch beyond outpost borders, and public outposts must vote on a war declaration, and anyone can carry a torch. Unauthorized torch carriers will see the flame extinguish upon exiting the outpost radius.

War Timeouts
After a certain amount of time, the war will time out if the outpost that declared war didn't attack. They can keep the war torch active by performing war favor actions, such as attacking NPC/players, destroying property, and committing other crimes. They can also burn tinder resources to the war deity to keep it active along with performing actions, or instead of. If favor for war depletes fully, the war torch will fade away.

World Options for War
In worlds where war must be mutual, notification of war will be sent to the property or settlement hub, to be accepted or denied. PVP worlds do not need mutual agreement, and once a war torch is delivered, opponents that enter are no longer limited by protection spells, and can attack members and visitors of the affected area. Players and NPC in that territory will know in their UI that the area is no longer safe. When an outpost creates the war torch, they can select if tribute is allowed to negate the war.

War Pacifism Option - Tribute
Players who are not combat based, have an option to offer tribute to remove the war mark, if allowed by the war declarer. The game will calculate the spirit worth of a outpost based on what the outpost can currently constructed, similar to a scaled monster attack, and the players must offer tribute to match the total needed to thwart the threat. This is completed via transport quests, which will mark the transporting goods as "war tributes." Once these enter the radius (even if are used/burned as tinder) it will count towards the completion of the tribute.

Tribute Time Up
If the time is up for the tribute (determined by tribute scale,) the war can send a monster, similar to a monster threat, to collect tinder value of the amount still owed. Or they can choose mercy, and lift the war. In either case, once a war cycle is complete, a war from the same outpost will not be able to be created until a new war cycle can complete. The war torch fire will burn out the same as not having the right roles/permissions to create one.

War Cycle Considerations
The game will consider war cycles as a monster threat, so players may still need to clear the current monster threat if there already is one, but will consider war cycles for the next cycle and cooldown calculations. However, completing war cycles is similar to clearing a monster cycle, and may start stacking monsters on top if players are able to clear war cycles. It is evidence of player progress.

One Side Surrendering
An accepted war can start to end, if either party surrenders. If a public outpost votes to surrender, or a claim founder declares it, the war ends with the winner either sending a monster to attack based on threat scaling, or ends with the winner choosing to extend their outpost link with their set rules as an extension of their outpost.

Both Sides Surrendering
If both parties surrender, the war will cancel, no changes to outpost is made, no monsters will be sent. If this occurs when a war-sent monster is active, it will suddenly have a 0 tinder value need, and will retreat.

War Visibility
Players will be quite used to having name tags marked in the open worlds in other MMORPGs, to know if a player is friend or foe, but this negates the ability to perform espionage. So, by default, players won't be able to tell who is friend or foe, since Spirit Relics doesn't use name tags for aliases and hidden identity purposes. But settlements can assign culture skills that allow foes to be marked within their territory with auras. This is automatic during war invasions. Riftcraft skills themed towards espionage can hide this if proficient enough in either normal instances, and during war invasions.

War on Outposts
Outposts with tinder in their furnace cannot be claimed. This allows no claim players, and NPCs to link functions together. However, in Hybrid [Spirit Relics Core] and PVP worlds, a Claim Stake can be placed near a post. This has its own furnace, in the shape of a skull (could be player, NPC, creature, or monster, depending on craft.) Tinder can be placed here by anyone who has access, and if the tinder exceeds the value of the original outpost, the claim will now own it. However, these are considered foreign objects and can be destroyed. The claim that sent it will be notified if it gets destroyed.

Uniforms
Uniforms allow an increased buff to war culture skills and can assign different tiers using banners, licenses, or claim roles. Since culture skills burn tinder flame, players can set different uniforms and role combinations to determine how much resources are allowed to be used within different armies and/or ranks. This allows distinction between hired mercenaries and army members. Some groups may opt to not allow hired players to use culture skills, while distinct members of armies can.

War Invasions
Players can carry war banners with their armies, which extends protection laws to their armies. Ensuring that only players they are warring with can attack them in the banner radius as they travel towards the claim/outpost they intend to attack.

Sanctuaries During War Invasions
Outposts can construct sanctuary controls. During an war invasion (3 or more players have fallen by an enemy attack with witnesses,) or war banners come into radius contact with the claim/outpost. Players who are visitors, and other non-members, will have a timer appear, where they will be protected for a certain amount of time to exit the area. If they stay when this timer runs out, they will be able to be attacked by the invading force. This timer increases based on culture skills applied on the settlement, as well as their own protection charms, and the base size of the settlement. Optionally, these players can flee to a Sanctuary.

Sanctuary Functions
Sanctuaries are areas that allow players to wait until a war is over, in hopes that they can resume their normal activities afterwards. More commonly used during political disputes, and not wars against cultures that thrive on brutality. Just like any outpost control, they need tinder to remain an active sanctuary. Inactive sanctuaries will not be safe-havens during invasions, but can have tinder added to it at any time, even by non-members of a outpost. Sanctuaries also function as a means to be better protected from monster attacks, by having a repelling affects against monsters if the spirit values within don't exceed non-faith based spirit values. Players linked to the opponents or too recently left the opponents membership cannot enter a sanctuary.

Sanctuary Repairs
In a sanctuary, faith-based players can pray to recover structural damage over time, instead of needing material and tools. You can still theme sanctuary buildings to be restaurants, inns, hospitals, or other building types, as long as the spirit values don't exceed the faith based requirements.

Destroyed Sanctuaries
Destroyed sanctuaries open up the area to regular warfare PVP. Until then, only the outer structure of a sanctuary can be affected. So seriously consider your options for staying vs going when war strikes.

Espionage
A riftcraft user can disguise themselves, temporarily receiving all mechanics of a non-member within a settlement, but still can't attack within a sanctuary. But may offer location advise if sanctuaries are hidden, and can identify themselves as an enemy once the sanctuary falls. Or perhaps, they will continue to play out the role of a member of the new settlement, playing the role as someone who was a victim, but offer ground-level intel as the new ruler reins. Riftmist (crime trail) will appear at the area the skill was applied, and once again at a sanctuary. The riftmist will remain hidden at both points, unless there is a witness at the initial activation of when the skill was applied.